Devcontainer with DevPod PoC Using Neovim as the IDE

This is a proof of concept for using devcontainers with DevPod with neovim as the IDE. Neovim is not a built-in IDE option for DevPod, but it can be configured using the devcontainer.json file and running a script to install the packages that are needed. That’s what I did for this PoC.

This is a devpod for neovim Proof of Concept. It’s using the open source DevPod development environment running on Docker. There are other provider options for running DevPod, such as using Kubernetes, or cloud providers, and you can use other IDEs such as VSCode and JetBrains. I’m using docker as the provider and installing and configuring neovim for this PoC.

This is a great way to try Neovim without installing it on your local machine.

I can definitely see the value of having a standard development environment that is portable. This would be great for use in training courses or for onboarding new developers.

The Goal of the PoC

I want to see if configuring a devpod is worth the time it takes to configure one or more environments. Worst case is that I’ll learn something new about configuring development environments. Best case is that I’ll have a consistent development environment that I can use on any machine.

Approach

I orginally tried configuring the devpod by manually loading the packages after the devpod was created and started. That seemed rather useless since I wasn’t really saving any time. I didn’t know anything about the devcontainer.json spec at the time, and that’s the key to getting the efficiency and consistency that I want. IDE as Code basically.

Then, I saw this video on how to use the devcontainer.json spec with DevPod and realized that I could create a custom devpod using Features to install the packages. Features aren’t available for all the packages that I wanted to use and there are some other configuration settings that need to be done, so I wrote an install.sh script to make those changes. Now, everything I need to get nvim up and running is done when the devpod is created. A future enhancement would be to write my own Feature to install the packages that I need.

There are some issues that surfaced here, such as using apt install neovim Feature installs an old version of neovim that doesn’t work with my Lazy configuration. However, there is a Feature that uses the source code instead of apt, and that one works.

Using these Features makes me wonder how secure they are, which is always a question about community-supported software. Probably best to check out the source code before using them in a production environment.

The DevPod

I’m testing using the same dotfiles that I use on my local machine. I’ve largely copied the setup that Omerxx has - check out his YouTube channel for more information on how to set up neovim, tmux, and other DevOps tools.

I didn’t make any changes since this is a PoC. But, for a real use case I would have dotfiles for the specific environment.

For example, this devpod is using a go image, but in my neovim configration files I load Python and Node LSPs. This results in a (non-fatal) error message when running neovim on this devpod.

Neovim Plugins Installed

Expand to see list of plugins

[ "Comment.nvim", "FTerm.nvim", "LuaSnip", "cmp-nvim-lsp", "cmp_luasnip", "copilot.vim", "fidget.nvim", "gen.nvim", "git-worktree.nvim", "gitsigns.nvim", "go.nvim", "goto-preview", "guihua.lua", "harpoon", "indent-blankline.nvim", "lazy.nvim", "lazygit.nvim", "lspkind.nvim", "lua-utils.nvim", "lualine.nvim", "markdown-preview.nvim", "mason-lspconfig.nvim", "mason.nvim", "neorg", "noice.nvim", "nui.nvim", "nvim", "nvim-cmp", "nvim-dap", "nvim-dap-go", "nvim-dap-ui", "nvim-dap-virtual-text", "nvim-lspconfig", "nvim-nio", "nvim-notify", "nvim-transparent", "nvim-tree.lua", "nvim-treesitter", "nvim-web-devicons", "obsidian.nvim", "onedark.nvim", "pathlib.nvim", "plenary.nvim", "snacks.nvim", "telescope-fzf-native.nvim", "telescope-symbols.nvim", "telescope.nvim", "twilight.nvim", "vim-fugitive", "vim-pencil", "vim-sleuth", "vim-surround", "zen-mode.nvim" ]

Packages Installed

These packages are installed as features using the devcontainer.json file:

• neovim - using the Feature that uses the source code
• stow - for managing dotfiles
• fzf - fuzzy finder
• ripgrep - faster than grep
• starship - shell prompt
• tmux - terminal multiplexer
• fx - JSON viewer

These binaries are installed by the install.sh script:

• fd-find
• bat
• lazygit

The install.sh script uses stow to create the symlinks from the dotfiles to the .config directory

What I’ve Learned

I can see the possiblity of running neovim as a container. Neovim is constantly evolving and requires a lot of updating and changing of plugins. Running it as a container would make it easier to make changes without breaking my local environment. And for someone who is a real developer, they might like having an IDE for each project that they work on.

• I liked working with the devcontainer.json file and the devpod cli better than the DevPod UI. I found it easier to understand.
• Neovim in the DevPod was just like running from my local machine. I didn’t notice any difference.
• I can see the value of having a standard development environment that is portable. This would be great for use in training courses or for onboarding new developers.
• I need to do a bit more to complete the configuration like installing the dotfiles and setting up the environment variables.
• I would like to experiment some more with the devcontainer.json file to see if I can get the devpod to load all the packages that I need.
• I will need to write a custom Feature to install some of the packages that I need.
• I’d like to experiment with some other DevPod providers, such as Kubernetes, and AWS.

Next Steps

If I were to continue with this PoC, I would:

• Configure the container to use zsh as the shell
• Write custom Features to install the packages that I need.
• Write a Dockerfile and docker compose file to add the packages that I need.